These verses can be a slap in the face to our western lifestyles. How do we tackle them without either melting in a heap of condemnation or glossing over them as not being relevant to us?
James commands us not to judge others. But in a world where ‘everyone’s a critic’ how do we recognise judgement and cynicism and also guard our hearts against it?
Words can either build others up or cut them down. What does James have to say about how our faith should change the way we speak to and about others?
James tells us, “Faith without deeds is dead’. How do we grapple with this statement alongside the belief that we are saved by grace alone? And what implication does it have for the way we live our lives?
Talk is cheap! It’s easy to say we have faith in Jesus without putting that faith into action. The book of James is a ‘how to’ manual sharing wisdom to help us live life the way Jesus is calling us to. Let’s put our faith to work!
In the last moments of his life, Joshua reaffirms his total devotion to God by making this declaration to Israel, “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Josh 24:15; see also Joshua 1:7). We see in Joshua a picture of God who is worthy of our all. How can we live a radically devoted life? What does it look like to choose God and not idols?
We read in the book of Joshua that “Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled” (Joshua 21:45). How do we trust God’s promises in our lives? What difference does it make to the way in which we live?
The Israelites developed a rhythm of commitment and recommitment to God. Renewed commitment to God brought blessing to Israel, as surely as disobedience brought curses. What opportunities do we have to renew our commitment to God’s purposes in the world?
Joshua 2: Where does trust in God and the need for for us to be active intersect?
God told Joshua to be strong and courageous. This courage was actually rooted in his obedience to God. And in Jesus we see this courageous obedience that delivers the promises of God to his people. It’s God’s promises and presence fuels our courage and strength.
Encountering truth and encountering forgiveness go hand in hand. Where does this forgiveness come from and what does it mean for us?
John 4 - what does it mean to be filled? We talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit, that precious living water, but what does it mean? How was the Holy Spirit significant in this encounter with the Samaritan woman? How can we be daily filled by Him, and what could that look like?
Jesus said 'you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free'. What truths did Jesus teach, how did it affect other person in that encounter? How should they affect us?
Highgrove and Trinity College's Jamie Davies helps us to take a step back and look at how we can read John's gospel well.
How do we build a church of both welcome and inclusion for people of all backgrounds? Catch up with our talk from Sunday.
God loves a cheerful giver. How can we use money in ways that results in thanksgiving to God?
To find out more about giving go to highgrove.church/giving
What role does global mission have in building tomorrow's church today? Hear Rob's (10 minute!) vision for global partnerships.
In this series we look at some of the values of Church and some of the practices that are more flexible as we consider the challenges of the future.
The early Church had an integrated way of life where worship both gathered and dispersed, care for the poor, signs and wonders all contributed to a vibrant witness. How can our Christianity be more than a ‘Sunday’ affair but be a balanced way of life? What are the hallmarks of 24/7 Christianity? What are we modelling in our lifestyle to a watching world?
The book of the Acts of the Apostles could be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. The spread of the Church documented in its pages is undergirded by ‘signs and wonders’; miracles of healing in particular. How normal should sign and wonders be in our Church life?
Works are the visible good deeds that a Christian community does in response to their faith in Christ; not dead works of religion, but live works of faith.
Words have power. Jesus speaks of his own words as ‘works of the father’ (John 14:10) as much as other ‘miracles’. Paul (Rom 10:14-15) asks how people can believe without a preacher.
But Words can get us into trouble. And Witness requires boldness, as well as sensitivity. How do we find the right words to be witnesses? How do we prepare, take opportunities, know God’s empowering?
The Psalms is the worship book of the bible and many of them are songs of lament, coming to God with grief and hard questions. The challenge of suffering is that very often our grief and our questions cause us to move away from God rather than closer to him.
How and when can we incorporate lament into our worship diet? What songs of longing and lament are there? How do we find a God who grieves with us and over us when we bring our griefs to him.
Who hopes for what they already have? Longing seems to be part of the human psyche, ‘God has set eternity in the hearts of men’ says the writer of Ecclesiastes. What part has longing played in your spiritual journey?
Loss is inevitable. What does the Bible have to say about how we face life's losses? Is there such a thing as good grief?
God's rescue plan came to fruition as Jesus is raised from the grave, defeating the power of sin and death!
Wasn’t there another way God could have acted other than Jesus dying? Why did there have to be a sacrifice? What did Jesus’ death actually achieve?
For some people, the truth of who Jesus is offends them. To others, the truth doesn’t make any sense. This has been the case ever since Jesus walked the earth and is demonstrated in this passage. What is the truth about Jesus? Who did he claim he was?
What can we do when God seems silent? In the garden Jesus prays to his Father, seemingly with no reply, and yet he still obeys. What can we learn from Jesus’ reaction to God’s seeming silence, and how can we engage with God in those times when he doesn’t seem to be speaking?
Why did Jesus give us communion? This is a chance to teach about the symbolism of the bread and wine, the importance of the new covenant and the links to the Passover and Jesus being our sacrifice.
Application - what purpose does communion have in the modern, global church, and what impact does it have on us as individuals?
Colossians 2
As the saying goes, ‘dress for the job you want, not for the job you have.’
How often do you try to do everything in your own strength and fall flat on your face? The good news from Colossians is, we can step into a new set of clothes.
Colossians 3:1-17
'The world says we can have everything now; but is it truly everything?'
In a world that promises instant gratification, can we have everything we want now? Paul encourages the Colossians to put down roots. When we give Jesus everything, he doesn’t give us back religion, tradition, or teaching. When we give ourselves to Jesus, we receive Jesus Christ himself. He is everything now.
In the book of Colossians, Paul addresses problems the Church faces and encourages believers to remain devoted to the exalted Jesus. In Jesus, the hope of heaven has already broken into earth. It’s all about Jesus - it always has been, is now and always will be.
‘Live a life that brings pleasure to God. That’s how we can truly thrive.’
How does knowing God more, and staying connected to Jesus, allows us to live a life where we can thrive and impact those around us?
Based on Matthew 6
It’s been said that ‘we are what we read’. What we fill our minds with will inevitably affect the way we write the story of our lives. What’s on your reading list?
Giving is at the heart of what it is to be a follower of Jesus. Why give and how should we go about it? Watch out for the cracking mother-in-law joke!
Prayer is key to a Christian life. How can we prioritise it more and how can we get better at it? Are we as good at listening as we are at talking?
Matthew 6:5-15
What are your priorities at the start of this New Year? In Matthew 6, Jesus talked of three priorities for believers and they are ones for us to embrace in 2018. What role does fasting have in modern day discipleship? And hear about Sam's plans to fast from clothes during Prayer Week!
In the Old Testament story, human kings feature large. But they all served to point towards the true, perfect, humble King. This Christmas, how can we recognise again the kingship of Jesus in our lives?
What are we doing talking about Temples two weeks before Christmas?! What significance does the Temple have in the story of God's relationship with humanity, and how is it relevant to Christmas? Oh, and, do you think we've really been putting something in the coffee?
The story of Jesus is the story of God’s true son. When Jesus is born as we prelude the Christmas story we see the one coming who resonates with the story of the nation of Israel but who is the one who will fulfil God’s heart to bless all nations.
Who is my neighbour?
The Old Testament gives extraordinary teaching about ‘who is my neighbour’ (not just my family, clan, tribe) and what it means to love our neighbour, throughout its pages. Ultimately the Old Testament ties together love for God with practical living and love toward other human beings, most perfectly taught and demonstrated in the life of Jesus.
The ten commandments can be summed up (as Jesus sums up the Law) in ‘Love God, and ‘Love your neighbour’. Human beings thrive when they know God, shun idols and embrace worship (and rest from the pursuit of material/spiritual idols) at the core of their lives.
For many people the Old Testament is literally a closed book. Yet for Jesus himself, and the early Church, it was their scripture. Jesus quotes the Old Testament often, as do Paul and the other New testament writers. Yet for may of us today there seems to be a disconnect between ‘the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ and the requirements of God as he appears in the Old Testament. How should we read this book?
Prayer is a defining habit of a follower of Jesus. Disciples say ‘teach us to pray’. John has a confidence in prayer that God hears us. Does this sort of confidence in God inspire more prayer which gives rise to more confidence?
How do we radically love? The love of God constrains us to love one another as we obey Jesus’ new commandment. How much does fear hold us back from radical love? Fear of rejection? Fear of hurting others if we are honest? Fear of shame and exposure if we are open?
Our God's generous, He gives to all of us. But what about us? How can we develop a habit of generosity to those around us in response to God?
Confession is a major spiritual discipline in the Catholic church and perhaps partly in reaction not mainstream in protestant tradition. It’s encouraged biblically by example, in the people first baptised by John (mark 1:5) and in evangelism (Acts 19:18). It’ encouraged not just to be Godward but to one another (James 5:16). John assumes in his letter all sin, and all can be forgiven.
God is a promise keeping God, a God of covenant. How do we understand and apply God’s promises particularly in times of shaking and trouble? What does it mean for us to play our part in keeping covenant with God? Does God have covenant promises for communities and nations today?
The Bible tells us that God is close to the broken hearted, and the Holy Spirit is called by Jesus ‘the comforter’. One of the great things we can do as a prophetic people is mediate God’s comfort and hope to a broken world. Jeremiah’s words of comfort have been applied and brought re-assurance to millions of people since they were first recorded. How do we unlock the power of comfort and hope in our world today
We challenge and confront people we love. Jeremiah’s love for his people reflects the love of God for his chosen ‘bride’ as He calls the Jewish nation. The confrontation is strong however! What gives us the authority to confront and how do we do it appropriately?
Jeremiah lived through the final years of the nation of Judah from the era of the decline of Assyrian power through to the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people. He was as a young man when called, and lived through the reigns of four kings (from Josiah to Zedekiah) over a turbulent forty-year period. What can we learn about Jeremiah's calling to respond in a time of crisis?
God speaks to us in many ways 1. through creation (Rom 1v20), 2. through scripture (2 Tim 3v14-17), 3. through Jesus - the word made flesh (John 1v1-2, 14, Hebrews 1v1-3), 4. through the Sprit (prophecy)
The Bible is God's written word to us. Do we feel confident in how to read and apply it? Giving personal example, show how God's word revives the soul, brings wisdom for living, gives joy to the heart and gives guidance, lighting our path in life (Psalm 19v7-11). How do we apply the promises of God from the Bible in our lives (2 Cor 1v20)?
One of our church distinctives is "Everyone a minister", but does everyone feel confident to minister? During the talk revisit the biblical idea that everyone is a minister and that we all have different gifts to use (Rom 12, Ephesians 4)
Paul was confident as he ministered to Christians in places like Corinth that he was ministering life rather than "law that kills". How do we avoid legalism in ministry?
It's not "our" ministry, it is the Spirit's ministry, that gives life. How do we minister in the power of the Holy Spirit? (1 Cor 12)
In a multi-cultural society, do we have confidence in Jesus, his unique claim to be the one who brings us to know God as father (John 14v6), the one who ultimately reveals what God is like (Col 2v9), the one who can empathise with our humanity (Heb 4v14-16) and the only one through whom salvation and forgiveness comes (Acts 4v12)?
Do we have confidence that Jesus is the wisest person who ever lived and that we would be wise to make him Lord of every aspect of our lives?
At times we can feel that we are confident in God as Father and Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, but we can be unsure about the Holy Spirit and how He works in our lives.
Do we have confidence in who God is, how he works and the life he gives? At the start of this series looking at 2 Corinthians, Paul introduces the book by describing God as 1. God our Father, 2. Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 3. Father of compassion, 4. God of all comfort.
God is relational rather than the more static Greek view, therefore we can have confidence that he loves us as a Father, he has plans and dreams for our lives, listens to our prayers and speaks to us.
We live in an age of ‘fake news’ and image driven lifestyle communication, where Truth is a rare commodity. Jesus was so committed to truth that he said/implied that if we swore an oath instead of letting our yes be yes and our no be no it was from the evil one (father of lies) and indication that our words are not trustworthy.(matt 5:37)